Biography

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Biggert was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 15, 1937 and attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.[2] Biggert began her legal career as clerk to the Honorable Luther M. Swygert, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. [2]

Campaign themes

2012

Excerpt: "With millions unemployed and small businesses struggling, I strongly believe we must enact common-sense policies that encourage job creation and retention. I’ve also always believed that Americans are taxed too much, not too little. That’s why we must lower taxes and implement a fiscally-responsible budget to get our economy back on track."

Government Reform

Excerpt: "Americans have lost faith in their government, and I don’t blame them. Numerous elected officials, especially here in Illinois, have been indicted for corruption. And special federal appropriations, or earmarks, are being requested for the Alaskan ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ a Woodstock Hippie Museum, and many other irresponsible government spending projects."

Health Care Reform

Excerpt: "The job-killing taxes, cuts to Medicare for our seniors, and government intrusion into doctor-patient decisions will hurt all Americans. We need a targeted approach to address the problems of cost, quality, and access."

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Biggert voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. She was one of 85 Republicans that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[5]

Removal of challengers

On February 2, 2012, the State Board of Elections disqualified challengers John Cunningham and Diane Harris, removing them from the ballot. In order to qualify, candidates need to submit 600 valid signatures. Harris, a notary public, was unanimously removed for not having enough signatures, while Cunningham, was removed by a vote of 6-2.[7] Cunningham, who serves as Kane County clerk, submitted 1,265 signatures, but only 526 were ruled to be valid. A state hearing officer threw out hundreds of signatures from Cunningham because they were collected by a paid petitioner who listed a non-existent address as his home.[8] Cunningham previously attempted to remove Biggert from the ballot, but saw the challenge rejected 8-0.

Following the rulings, Harris is continuing to run, but as a write-in candidate.[9] Although Cunningham initially said, "I’m an elected official and if we did it wrong, we don’t belong on the ballot,”[10] it now looks like he is appealing. According to Ken Menzel, Deputy General Counsel for the Board of Elections, Cunningham filed for judicial review of the decision on February 7.[11] In his dissent, Board member Jesse Smart said the arguments in the case were confusing and should have seen a different outcome, stating, “If I’m going to err, I’m going to err on the side of the candidate."[7]On February 21, 2012, a hearing was held regarding Cunningham's appeal of his removal. Judge Susan Fox Gillis reversed the Illinois Board of Elections decision, placing Cunningham back on the ballot. "To me it was the kind of error that did not merit disenfranchising voters," Cunningham said.[12] Within days an appeal was filed with the Illinois First Appellate District in Cook County asking them to review the decision of the lower court. It was brought by two Aurora men who objected to Cunningham's candidacy. Their lawyer, John Fogarty, asked for an expedited decision.[13]

On March 7, the appellate court removed Cunningham from the ballot, sending the matter back to the State Board of Elections for reconsideration. While the earlier rulings had to do with a petition circulator who wrote his home address incorrectly on petitions, the court order this time said two of Cunningham's petition circulators may not have personally appeared before a notary when certifying some of their petitions. The BOE had until March 13 to decide which petitions are valid and if enough signatures remained.[14]

Cunningham's name has been listed on ballots used since early voting began February 27 and it was included on the second round of absentee and military ballots that were mailed out. However, election officials said it's too late to change the ballot again and are trying to determine if they need to hand out notices indicating that Cunningham is not currently a candidate.[15]

Biggert had remained relatively quiet regarding Cunningham's case, noting only that he had previously challenged her signatures and that, as Kane County's top election official, he should be well aware of the rules. “He’s responsible for the elections, and so he should know how to fill out the petitions and who he hires to do that and whether they sign the petitions in front of a notary and collect petitions that are correct,” she said.[16]

On March 12, the Illinois State Board of Elections decided again that Cunningham's nominating petitions contained too many suspect or invalid signatures. As a result, Cunningham's name was once again ordered of the ballot. Specifically, the ISBE said two people who had circulated petitions for Cunningham failed to have them properly notarized. After the offending petitions were disqualified, Cunningham did not meet the filing requirements.[17] "This sets the standard that in the future, you can file an objection and then go on a witch hunt at the hearings. My goal has been and remains to give voters in this district a real choice," said Cunningham

The CPA, which is going after incumbents of both parties, states on their website "Our goal is to bring true competition to our electoral process, to give voters real information about their choices, and to restore fair, not fixed, elections."[24]

As of February 16, 2012, Biggert has been in office longer than 281 members of congress. Eighteen have been in office the same number of years as Biggert, while 136 have been in office longer than her. In the Illinois delegation, she has been in office longer than 10 of the 17 other members. One has the same number of years as Biggert, while six have served for a longer period of time.

Debate

In a debate held against Bill Foster on Saturday October 13, candidates went back and forth on careers, voting histories and choices made in office. While both sides made accusations that the other did not support the district in certain ways or made bad choices, both agreed on certain areas which need continued help. Budget concerns and Medicare were the main topics of debate between the two candidates.[25]

Polls

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign donors

PACs

The website Open Secrets tracks campaign contributions for congressional members. As of December 31, 2010, Biggert had raised $7,993,248 in her career in Congress. Of those funds, 48 percent ($3,816,709) have come from individuals and 47 percent ($3,747,571) from PACs.[33]

Judy Biggert's campaign contributions - PACs vs. Individuals

Year

Amount from PACs

Amount from Individuals

2009-2010

$788,427 (50%)

$784,707 (50%)

2007-2008

$715,491 (50%)

$703,991 (49%)

2005-2006

$455,081 (49%)

$462,768 (50%)

2003-2004

$343,738 (54%)

$282,301 (45%)

2001-2002

$256,736 (49%)

$260,667 (50%)

1999-2000

$259,974 (48%)

$281,865 (52%)

Career

$3,747,571 (47%)

$3,816,709 (48%)

Campaign donors

2012

Breakdown of the source of Biggert's campaign funds before the 2012 election.

Biggert lost election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that election cycle, Biggert's campaign committee raised a total of $2,909,766 and spent $3,235,189.[34]

Analysis

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Biggert paid her congressional staff a total of $942,579 in 2011. She ranked 150th on the list of the lowest paid Republican representative staff salaries and ranked 195th overall of the lowest paid Representative Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Illinois ranked 46th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[41]

Net worth

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Biggert's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $2,147,063 and $9,129,999. That averages to $5,638,531, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican Representatives in 2010 of $7,561,133.[42]